Oh, here we go again!!! - Anil Kumar - Aug. 25, 2006

Mr. Jha, regarding your suggestion about having fully dedicated elite schools for certain class of people.

We all know this is not about providing education to people from 'deprived' background. Come on, who are we kidding? If this issue is resolved once and for all and everyone is happy and educated, people like Arjun Singh, Ram Vilas Paswan, Lalu Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Sonia Gandhi, Chhagan Bhujbal et al will be out of job. Most of them couldn't qualify for railway clerk posts and thus, have to rely on the ignorance of the Indian mass for their personal survival.

This is all about divide and rule and anyone who doesn't get it is either a recipient/potential recipient of such schemes or just does not understand Indian political psyche. There are other ways to get closer (no country or society can get complete equality, ever!) to getting a level field but this is all about politics, face it.

Another argument against your suggestion (sorry, I know you meant well!). If there were separate schools based on social or economic criteria, it would then raise a whole new issue of social discrimination and our esteemed leaders will once again thrive on it.

As for the doctors staging protests on streets, they are also fools and wasting their time while ignoring their patients. They know fully well this corrupt Congress government can go to the extent of changing the Constitution, at midnight, if needed, to have its way and to hang on to power (dissolution of Bihar Assembly in 2005, anyone?). - Anil Kumar - Aug. 25, 2006

Interesting and thought provoking, kinda similar to "Dead Man Walking". Being a recent graduate of IIT myself, I strongly believe merit should be supreme. No matter which way you look at it, its good for our collective progress as a country that merit is not suffocated by cheap politics of reservation. However I have also realised that merit can be relative but compassion should not be relative. Two students and persons may have different merit but I believe they should have equal compassion for others. This is why I strongly disapprove of the protests organized by these striking doctors. I am sympathetic to their cause but I would never have done it the way these doctors are protesting it. I think their protest is reflective of the mob mentality that we generally see in any political protests these days in India. Get enough numbers and basically hold the system to ransom to such an extent that normal life is disrupted, general public is harassed to such en extent that the government has no option but to cave in their demands. May be its their unbridled energy of youth or their rebellious attitude but they should have been more considerate and compassionate about the kind of profession they have chosen to practice. I am not questioning their demands rather their methods. I mean how can they let be in their consciousness that so many persons especially helpless poor were killed because of these kinds of protests. Even a single death is too many to be on anyone's consciousness. However I do not blame them for this. When the question is of survival, many animals eat smaller animals. I think they should not have been put in this situation in the first place. Government must have known better for such kind repercussions still these politicians happily let these poor people die under their nose. What kind of thick skinned person these politicians must be. Its a collective failure rather. India failed these doctors and now these doctors want to fail India, like our politicians who have been happily doing it ever since India was born. - Ravindra Kumar - Aug. 25, 2006

Kumod Jha and Anil Kumar go ahead and defend your striking medicos and the Lalu bandwagon will then defend their corrupt messiah. All of you guys are hypocrites and only care about the interests of your own castes rather than the nation and it's citizens. - Rajesh Sahu, Manchester, UK - Aug. 26, 2006

The tone and tenor of Som Vishvakarma follows a pattern that is inevitable. Since reservation is about benefits to one section, that section is bound to come up with reasons to justify their privileges. Reminds me of an incident quoted in the best seller "How to win friends and influence people". A person who had murdered many humans still felt he did not do wrong because he had grouse, real and imaginary, and felt justified in whatever he had done. It would be interesting to see the reaction of the same people when the creamy layer clause gets applied and some castes get deleted from the reserved categories and their own vested interest gets adversely affected.

Indeed what is merit?

Today, Karunakaran and Lalu have the power at the central govt. Hence they do what they can. From here onwards, let Narayanmurthy of Infosys feel justified to deny job to Lalu's son in law where he has powers. There will always be reasons to justify that action too.

To hell with the concept of an egalitarian society based on equality and justice. And long live geriatrics like Arjun Singh and their hold over the ministry they lord over. - T. V. Sinha - Aug. 26, 2006

Mr T.V Sinha what part of "saving the patient's life is the most important duty of a doctor" you don't understand? Please rise above your castiest feelings and support the patient's rights. How will you feel if you or your close relative are in serious condition and the doctor's wouldn't treat them because they are on strike for XYZ reason? - Rajendra Kumar - Aug. 26, 2006

Rajendra Kumar ji, how long you have been living outside India to have learnt the old, worn out cliché like 'what part of...you don't understand"? What do you think, you are the only one who understands the issue and the rest of us who happen to disagree with your political and social views are idiots? Just drop your conceited tone. It seems you have a habit of starting your sentence with this moronic line. Look at some of your previous posts elsewhere on this site.

If you want to debate like an adult, come up with your valid points and get ready for a nice, healthy debate and quit assuming you are the only brightest planet in the whole galaxy.

Sahu ji, same message for you. Come up with your points instead of hurling insults by calling those who don't agree with you hypocrites. How would you feel if we say you people (the recipients of reservation in India) are a flock of casteists people who can't think beyond your caste?

If you want to debate, join the group with your points but don't sit on the fence and throw feces at others who are trying to discuss a very important issue faced by India. - Anil Kumar - Aug. 26, 2006

Again!!! - Anjum Parwej - Aug. 27, 2006

Vishwakarma Ji, I don't find any merit in your article. If doctors go by your logic, they can never go on strike because every time they go on strike somebody will die. We will agree that everyone in India has rights to go on strike! Your article doesn't give a chance to these doctors. Well, you may say there are some other ways to show differences. Yes there are so many, but none of them are working for these poor doctors.

If patients die because there is no one to treat them, the responsibility lies on the government because ultimately a state is responsible for the welfare of its citizens. The govt can treat those dying patients in private hospitals. My point is Arjun Singh is responsible of these deaths, not the doctors.

Just to add, you gave a superficial account of duties of doctors. If they won't survive, why will they try to save patients. Remember lifeboat ethics?

Reservation didn't work for last 60 years. What is the probability that it would work in future? A simple extrapolation and a linear regression say, it won't work.

The solution to inequalities in society is not the reservation. Increasing the opportunities is. It didn't work in developed economies. Nor will it work in our country. - Vinod Kumar, USA - Aug. 27, 2006

Anil Kumarji, sorry to disappoint you but neither I nor my relatives used reservations. We are in fact creators of businesses and the associated jobs. The educated people depend on working for our businesses to make a living and putting food on their table. How many of them have the talent and courage to survive on their own without the government or our businesses giving them a job? I support affirmative action because I want India to be strong, you oppose it because you forget history. But for the British and Mughal Raj, Jhaji would have still got his religious education but I don't think you or Sinhaji would have got it, since before this time only the priestly caste was allowed to get an education. Before that time it was claimed everyone else did not had the merit to grasp complicated things like religious education. Does this make you and Sinhaji dumber than Jhaji? I don't think so. Kindly do some introspection and please don't forget the history. Just because you are riding the train now, don't forget that there was a time when you were merely standing on the platform looking at the train go by. Have some empathy for the person who is still standing on the platform. I want all the people to ride the train. Please stay in and learn from a developed nation that unless a significant majority prospers, a country cannot prosper. Who taught Dr. Ambedkar about affirmative action? USA, the most developed nation on the earth ever. - Rajesh Sahu, Manchester, UK - Aug. 27, 2006

Good for you Sahu ji. We are proud to have businessmen like you.

So if you or your family could succeed without the benefit of reservation, why couldn't others? Somehow your family was smarter and had more grey matter than others? And why your family was smarter and had more grey matters than others when your family also grew up in the same social and economic environment?

I'll tell you the answer! Your family did not wait for government handouts and free lunches at the cost of other communities. Your family did not take the promises of our netas like V. P. Singh and Arjun Singh and Ram Vinash Paswan seriously. They knew this was a ploy to get votes. They just went ahead doing what they do best and made themselves successful.

I have all the sympathy and empathy for poor people and I have my own ways of helping them in ways that are suitable to me. Just because I oppose reservation does not mean, I want the rich people to kill those who aren't. Like you, I also want them to prosper and be educated but not with this sick reservation ploy adopted by our politicians that you and many others are obviously blind to.

Try to understand: being anti-reservation does not mean anti-poor or anti-dalits. Sadly, our politicians like Ram Vinash Paswan have made you believe otherwise and successfully pitted us against each other.

Now you do some introspection! 60 years of reservation! What have we gained so far that we still continue to chant 'more reservation, more reservation??" How long will we continue to play this divide and rule game? If after six decades we still want more reservation, what makes you think after 40 more years later we still wouldn't be demanding more reservation?

You may argue the demand for reservation will continue till all dalits and backwards are empowered (whatever that means). This argument will mean two things - first, do you really think everyone will be exactly equal in 50, 100, 1000 years? I doubt it. Secondly, since complete equality is never possible, this game of reservation will continue till eternity, right? - Anil Kumar - Aug. 28, 2006

The suggestion made by me here was a horrible one. Though, it looks to be a benevolent suggestion at fist glance. But, given a deep thought, one can see it having the potential of creating deeper divisions in the society. If implemented, it would be similar to the dreaded practice of untouchability. Just think of it, SC/ST Medical College, OBC Institute of Technology, and probably one can see what I meant. No, Mr Anil, I did not mean it well. I was just trying to find out how many of us can understand the dirty political games. You were the only one.

Sometimes I wonder if we should blame the politicians. Shouldn’t we rather take the blame upon ourselves for being naïve enough to be tricked by them?

What made me write to this article was the frustration that instead of blaming either the politicians or ourselves, we are instead trying to find soft targets in the doctors. Leaving a patient to die for whatever reasons cannot be justified ethically. But, will the government reconsider its decision if the doctors continue their work with black ribbons tied to their shirts? Even when the patients die unattended, the politicians are busy taking political mileage out of it. The more the protests are highlighted through media, the bigger messiah these politicians would become among their supporters.

I wrote that the doctors are not politicians (and so they are not void of ethics). A doctor with no morals will not go on strike, he would rather be on duty and let the patients die (Some patients die everyday in these hospitals, be there a strike or not). This will save him from the media’s accusation of being insensitive towards the poor patients. Before treating a patient or training a junior doctor, such a doctor will try to find out their social background from his name or some other source.

So, why are these doctors going on strike? Because, they do not have support from any political party and because they do not have much sense of politics themselves (And we must be thankful for that). Remember it, in democracy no political party cares for unorganized minority. In this case, it is the intellectual minority of India.

And why am I trying to defend the doctors? Well, Mr Sahu can find the answer in my name.

I am an average human being and so I do have many shortcomings. I may be a hypocrite as my comment revealed to him. If one knows me personally, he may find many other more serious problems with my attitude. Some of them are already known to me and I am working towards overcoming those problems. But then that is personal to me and my friends. Mr Sahu, if you want to see me better, you will have to become my friend first. Can you see me beyond my name?

Let me clarify that I am not trying to defend the doctors for their strike. All I ask for is to find the real culprit to show your anger against. I cannot say anything on this issue in public, because my views will always be tied to my name. Whatever I say, it will make one or the other group upset with me. But, I don’t give up. I would personally help the students of all social/economical backgrounds to get proper education instead of expecting the government to think rationally and do something meaningful. I would try to create an environment of social goodwill wherever I live instead of writing articles on such topics. After all, that is what my goal is. What is there in protesting or supporting a political bill? - Kumod Jha - Aug. 28, 2006

Discussion on this topic is now closed.